We Have Pigeon Eggs

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Well, this is a little embarrassing, but it turns out that wasn’t a hole in the egg after all. It was something stuck onto it. I was wearing my contacts, and we didn’t have the balcony light on. The wife swore she saw some movement but now admits it may have been just wishful thinking. :o:o

So it’s Wedensday morning now, and the egg remains intact. I’m getting a little worried, but it’s still only 19 days old, and there is some heft to it, I’m not imagining that. Hopefully Pam will be coming out soon.

Little Pete is growing bigger.

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I wish I had good new to report, but I’m afraid it looks as if little Pam is not going to make it. Thursday now, the egg is 20 days old, and it’s not showing any signs of hatching. Twenty days is a bit late. The parents continue their vigil on it, and we’ll leave it there for now just in the off chance that something will still happen, but I predict we’ll have to dispose of it in a couple of days. :frowning:

I checked it again this morning, and the egg does have some heft to it. Something developed inside before things went horribly wrong. I don’t think ants got inside, there are no signs of that happening. Just one of those things, I guess. Back when Little Pidgee had the sterile egg, the one that was supposed to be Gracie to her brother George who did make it, the mother took the egg away herself. But that egg had been sterile from the outset it appeared, with no weight to it at all. This one may be too heavy for them to move.

Ladyboy, the mother, is only three years old, but we’re wondering if this sort of thing heralds an end to the reproductive age. Little Pidgee’s sterile egg was followed by Bob, who was a single egg, no second one even laid, and that was her last squab. Henry is four years old and still producing squabs we think, but his mate Geri we believe to be younger than he is.

Little Pete, meanwhile, is growing. Three days old – 3-1/2 actually – and his pink color is turning dark. He’s healthy at least.

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Just saw Dad give Pete a feeding. At least they’re not neglecting him for some weird reason having to do with then failure of the second egg.

I really think Pete came out of the first egg laid. At 18 days, it was right in the window for hatching. If it had been the second egg, that would mean it hatched in only 16 days, too early.

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Friday morning, the other egg is three weeks old and still no signs of life. I found the original pigeon board I used to post on before the one that went down and have asked them for advice, but I’m sure they’ll agree we don’t have to wait much longer to dispose of it. Poor Pam. :frowning:

On a happier not, Pete has opened his eyes, just a little, as I saw about 7am this morning (Friday morning). Technically he’s five days old today, but since he hatched just before midnight on Sunday night, he’s really closer to four days old. Growing big. Sad to see him next to his sister’s egg. (ell, so much for the happier note. :()

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Poor little egg. :frowning:

But on a happier note, hope you have a nice relaxing time on the island.

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Thanks. That’s still a couple of weeks away.

Hope Henry and Geri are okay. They’ve both recently taken to coming here and hanging out all morning into the afternoon but suddenly disappeared. Last time we saw them was Wednesday. Not the first time this has happened, but it’s always disconcerting.

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Oops! Spoke to soon. Henry just jumped up into the window. :smiley:

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The pigeon board agreed the egg is a dud. One poster said she leaves dud eggs in the nest for a full week just so the surviving squab will have something to lean on. She has a point. The squabs do have a tendency to lean on each other. And I’ve noticed Pete using the egg as a “pillow.” I’ll wait until Monday morning, but I’m afraid it’s certain that Pete is an only squab.

Using your dead sister as a pillow. It’s like I’m back in Texas!

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Awww, poor Pam. But congrats on Pete! Enjoy your holiday!

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Thanks. Still a couple weeks away though. Pete is a week old today (Sunday), tonight really. I’ll dispose of the egg finally tomorrow. The parents still tuck it underneath them.

Pete’s a wiggly little fellow. Feather shafts just starting to come in. Looks like he’ll be another white one. Out and about in Bangkok, we see most pigeons are gray, but white is starting to predominate in our area.

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Monday morning and we removed the dud egg yesterday. Both parents seemed to look around for it a little at first and then quickly adopted an “Oh well” attitude. I think they knew something was wrong.

Pete turned one week old last night and is showing every sign of being yet another whitey. Will try to get new photos up soon.

Charlie turns 15 weeks today and has never missed a night home. His parents seem less than enthused about his remaining here but aren’t doing much about it.

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I love the white based ones best.

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It’s still a little early to tell, but Pete may be the first one not to snap at me. He seems really to enjoy the breast and head rubs I give him. I mean even more so than the others. And yesterday (Sunday), when he was a week old, I was out on the balcony cleaning, and it looked as though he was “following” me in the Living Room. He can scoot around pretty good, and he kept turning toward me and moving in my direction no matter where I was. The wife noticed this too. He’s really a sweet little guy. (Maybe a girl?) But I expect his instincts will kick in in a couple more days, and he’ll start snapping at me defensively and then even flee once he’s fully mobile. But it’s nice to think maybe this is the one who will really act like a pet.

Every night after dark, we have Ladyboy, The Bully and Charlie all staring in at us. They rarely look outward. Always staring. Stare, stare, stare, all night long. We do wonder what they make of us.

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About midnight Friday night and Pete is 12 days old. A real sweetie. Instinct makes him “click” his bill at me, but he doesn’t really snap. It almost seems like he’s trying to suppress the instinct, like he likes us. He does like his little head and breast rubs. We’re starting to wonder if he may be female. Getting big now but still likes to burrow beneath whichever parent is there. Some gray coming in with the white, so may end up looking similar to Mandie. We should know in a few days.

And Charlie too. Cute like a little doll. Maybe a girl after all? His head is round, very round, not at all the same shape as his parents’ heads, and it gives him a more innocent appearance. He’ll be 16 weeks old on Monday and still hasn’t missed a night here. He does come back at the very last moment before dark though. I guess he doesn’t want to miss his later-night snack. He’s in for a big surprise about a week from now when we take off.

Will get the photos up soon, I promise.

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Ladyboy and The Bully have started being sweet to each other again. Feeling a little frisky and romantic. Based on their present rate of new eggs every 6-1/2 or 7 weeks, they should lay more eggs about the time we return from upcountry.

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After 11pm Sunday night, and Pete’s two weeks old almost to the minute. He seems to enjoy the extra room with no sibling. Can stand a little and likes to scoot all around the Living Room, circling the dead tree in the middle. That’s his world. I did set him down on the floor the other day just briefly. When I give him a chest or head rub, he sometimes makes tiny squeaking noises like a bathtub toy.

Charlie turns 16 weeks tomorrow and still has not missed a night here. Always flies down from the rail for his late night snack when he sees me walk in the door. Little does he know the snacks are about to dry up in a week for a week.

Plan to get those photos up tomorrow.

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Siam Sam I’ve thought about your pigeons a lot over the summer. I don’t have pigeon eggs but my neighbour sure does!

I can see onto their deck from my apartment and I’ve watched Papa White Wings and Lady Heckle Speckle have brood after brood of babies all summer long! I had no idea that they’d just keep having more and more babies and thought they’d lay probably two clutches during the breeding period. Nope!

They’ve had 5 clutches! One egg didn’t hatch from 2 clutches and 1 week-old baby died during a horrible rain and wind storm so they have 7 surviving babies. Now that it’s turned cold they’ve finally stopped laying eggs. The babies and mom and dad hang around the neighbourhood and I sometimes sprinkle my budgies left-over seeds outside for them.

It’s been very enjoyable watching them all grow up over the summer. Both Papa White Wings and Lady Heckle Speckle were on the same deck having babies last year but I didn’t pay all that close attention.

I hope they’re back next year!

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Too bad about the one non-survivor and the dud egg. But lucky to see the others, and you didn’t even have to clean up the mess! Not sure about other climates, but this being a warmer climate one here, we get pigeon eggs all year round.

Here are the photos I have long promised.

First, an update on Charlie. You can see him here and here at age 3 months and one day. I had to interrupt his late-night snack to take these photos.

And now we have a freshly hatched Pete, just an hour or two old, maybe even less, with a little egg stuck to the back of his head. And the next morning, maybe nine hours old now. At this point, we did not know the other egg was a dud and were still anticipating poor little Pam’s arrival.

Comatose Pete snoozing away at two days old. (Really about 30 hours old. Remember, he hatched just before midnight, thereby screwing up his age dates a little, but I’ll just keep it calendrical for simolicity’s sake.) And using his almost-sister’s egg as a pillow.

And a couple of days later at age four days. You can see he’s losing his fresh pink color now.

And at six days old, his eyes have started to open. (They first opened the day before.) And again. His little wings are really coming along here.

The next day, one week old, and we’ve removed the other egg.

And finally, three different views at age 11 days last Thursday: Here (you can really see those feathers starting to sprout from the shafts), here and here.

And you can see all the pidgee photos one a single page here.

I have a short video too that I’ll have to upload. Just after hatching. But that’s all for the moment.

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And the video is now uploaded. I present to you … Pete, the world’s newest pigeon. Just after hatching. That’s some eggshell stuck to the back of his head.

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And I transferred Pete to the flower box after cleaning out on the balcony today. Roomy. He’s getting about big enough for it now. Fifteen days old.